A tainted water supply at the military base at Camp Lejeune, N.C., caused brain cancer in the two children of a Trussville couple, a federal lawsuit filed last week alleges.

Jennifer Edwards died in 2000 at the age of 14, just one day after she was hospitalized. Her brother, Lee, was diagnosed with a type of brain cancer in July 2009 and had to have surgery to remove a lesion, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Birmingham by parents John and Connie Edwards. Lee's brain cancer is incurable, the lawsuit states.

"It's horrible. It's unimaginable," Connie Edwards said in an interview with The Birmingham News. "It happened like, boom, and she was gone. With Lee's diagnosis, you never know when it's going to reoccur."

The lawsuit is among a half dozen filed in recent years against the U.S. government by former Marines or their families who lived on the base prior to or during the time the government noticed contamination and began taking steps to clean up the water supply.

Charles Miller, spokesman for the civil division of the U.S. Justice Department, declined to comment, saying the department had not yet seen the Edwards' lawsuit.

Two lawsuits over the contamination have been dismissed and four others, including the Edwards' case, are pending, said Jennifer Zeldis, public affairs officer with the Office of the Judge Advocate General of the Navy.

More than 2,000 administrative claims have been filed with the Navy contending the base's drinking water caused birth defects and various diseases, including cancer. In all, the claims seek more than $39 billion in damages.

Attention to the water contamination and claims of birth defects and illness connected to it have grown in recent years.

The federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has reported that, from 1957 through 1987, the level of chlorinated solvents exceeded Navy regulations and was at times hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of times greater than the safe levels for human use, according to the Edwards' lawsuit.

The base "negligently, carelessly and recklessly failed to follow their mandate and failed to exercise due care by causing or allowing various pollutants and contaminants, such as tetrachloroethylene, trichloroethylene, dicloroethylene, vinyl chloride, and benzene to exist in the base water supply in quantities that Defendant knew or should have known were dangerous to the life, health and welfare of those to whom they were supplying the water," the suit alleges.

The National Research Council last year issued a report on a study into the Camp Lejeune water contamination. That report said evidence showed people who lived or worked at the base between the 1950s and 1985 were exposed to the industrial solvents tricholorethylene (TCE) or perchloroethylene (PCE) in the water supply. But the study found there was no strong scientific evidence showing whether health problems were caused by the contaminants.

TCE, PCE, and dichloroethylene (DCE), are reasonably believed to be human carcinogens, and benzene and vinyl chloride are "known human carcinogens," according to the lawsuit.

Leaking underground storage tanks, industrial spills and waste disposal sites, including waste from an off-base dry cleaning firm, were to blame for the contaminants, the lawsuit claims.

As early as 1984, more than 800,000 gallons of fuel leaked from underground storage tanks near a well in Camp Lejeune. A test in July 1984 indicated that benzene -- a fuel additive -- was present at a level of 380 parts per billion, "well above the federal standard of 5 parts per billion," the lawsuit states.

The Navy recently began a mail campaign to notify veterans stationed at Camp Lejeune of the toxic chemicals in the drinking water between 1957 and 1987. The veterans and their families are invited to participate in an online registry.

Never told

John Edwards was in the Marine Corps stationed at Camp Lejeune from March 1985 through June 1988, according to the lawsuit.

Connie Edwards said they never heard anything about water contamination until a relative saw a news report in North Carolina several years after Jennifer died. "I've never had anyone from the Marine Corps or the Navy contact us," she said.

Jennifer, who was born while the family was stationed at the base, died June 17, 2000, after a brief illness, her mother said. She had had a few headaches, but they got persistent, her mother said.

She had no other symptoms of neurological problems, Connie Edwards said. A doctor prescribed antibiotics. The Friday before she died, Jennifer had a seizure at home, her mother said. She had vomited on the bed and didn't look right, so the family took her to the hospital.

A CAT scan revealed the brain tumor. The next day, at 11 a.m., she was declared brain dead. Her liver and eyes were donated, her mother said.

Jennifer's brother, Lee, was born several weeks before the family moved to Camp Lejeune.

Lee Edwards' illness didn't surface until he had finished a master's degree in tax accounting at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa last year. He underwent surgery in July 2009 to remove a brain tumor.

"He's doing real good. He's had no ill effects from it," Connie Edwards said. "They described it as a pea or small marble," she said.

Connie Edwards said her son struggled to pay for college. He waited tables and took out loans. "He graduated with honors," she said.

Connie Edwards said her son feels he can't plan his life. "It's a day-to-day torment," she said.

A claim filed with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in October 2004 said that John Edwards worked in the Communications Center across the street from the laundry where contamination occurred.

Another claim was filed with the U.S. Navy in September 2009 by Lee Edwards, stating that he had been diagnosed with incurable brain cancer and doctors removed a brain tumor on July 30, 2009.

The government has not responded to either claim, said the family's attorneys, Percy Badham and Allen Dodd.

Connie Edwards said she is concerned about the way the Marines have been treated.